Final Justice
Reviewed by YTSL
Hong Kong movies centering on Catholic priests
are not exactly a dime a dozen. Yet as luck would have it, I have
now viewed two in the past couple of months; and both the light-hearted
"Tri-Star" and this more dramatic Milkway Image effort have a character
played by Lau Ching Wan figuring prominently in proceedings. Somewhat
coincidentally too (or perhaps not), neither are among the best works which
bear the imprint of two of the HKSAR's most prominent -- and not particularly
famously religious -- film people: Tsui Hark and Johnnie To respectively
(though in fairness, To produced but handed over the directing reins to
Derek Chiu for what appears to be the least heralded offering from the
company he founded in 1996).
From reading such as the HKMDB reviews of it,
I have gotten the impression that FINAL JUSTICE is really disliked by those
Western fans of Hong Kong movies who have seen it. Such as a "heavy,
misogynistic plot" and "script [that] couldn't decide on a point of view
or a style in which to tell the story" is what makes it deemed by at least
one individual as: "A true must not see." Yet the Hong Kong
based -- and notoriously negative -- Paul Fonoroff actually considered
it "one of the more contemplative Cantonese films in recent months", whose
story successfully "weaves in so many moral issues" (In a review written
in early 1997). So...what is going on and accounts for this not very
usual critical state of affairs?
Perhaps the answer lies rather simply in FINAL
JUSTICE being a movie: Whose main touchy focus is on a thirty-something
year old priest getting accused of rape by a young woman whose confession
he had recently heard; where the key incident was shot in a way that leaves
no doubt as to who is the guilty and innocent party involved in the matter;
and that possesses what might be described as a contemporary Hong Kong
point of view that does not mesh well with the North American PC perspective.
If this is the case, what may well be a more interesting question to probe
concerns why this film was made, and what was the thinking behind the presentation
of its particular perspectives as well as the choice of highlighted topic(s)?
The way I see it, the salient primary issue in
FINAL JUSTICE is not so much the voluntary or involuntary enactment of
a single sex act between Father Li Siu Ho (Lau Ching Wan gives another
utterly believable performance) and Donna Cheung (Almen Wong in eye-catching
form) as how the religious authorities and the courts handle a case that
has both moral and legal facets. When the work is looked at from
this perspective, this explains the prominent part played in the movie
of a not very pleasant underworld character complexly portrayed by Eric
Tsang. In this way too, added meaning gets conferred on the verbal
exchanges and drawing of parallels -- as well as contrasts -- between Father
Li and the woman who Eric Tsang's Kim Shun Fat hires as the legal counsel
of the childhood friend he regularly confesses his sins to, so that he
can be forgiven by God and have peace of mind (Fans of the second billed
Carmen Lee ought to realize that her Koo May character only enters into
the picture in the 51st minute of the film).
At this point in the review, it should be apparent
that I don't find this well-acted effort to be a bad movie. In fact,
I'd even hazard an opinion that FINAL JUSTICE contains -- and not in a
terrible way at all -- some thought-provoking arguments and qualities.
Still, this is not to say that I don't have any beef with this production
(and/or the brains behind it). Hopefully without spoiling things
too much for those who have yet to view it (and plan to do so), here's
stating my feeling that this early 1997 piece may have been too negatively
affected by pre-Handover blues. Consequently, it is saddled with
too bleak -- if not downright cynical -- a general outlook on life, people
and the ability of non-criminal systems to justly deal with matters that
one would like to hope they can handle (better).
My rating for this film: 6.5